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Cherie Lily Works 'BODY' On The Dancefloor

This week, Cherie Lily strips house music bare with “Body”, an infectious high energy, hard-thumping club track that celebrates the underground dance hall and ballroom scene. Written by Lily with a beat by legendary ballroom DJ Vjuan Allure, “Body” is a throwback to 1989’s hip house, when rap and electronic club music were first blended together to produce soulful groove tracks like Technotronic’s “Pump Up The Jam”, Dee Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” and India’s “I Can’t Get No Sleep”; songs that blasted from out of dance clubs and onto radio, forever changing the sound of pop. Cherie Lily aims to do it again. “I want to inspire people to sweat and feel sexy,” she says.

“Body” is available this week on i-Tunes and other online music retailers.

“I love the freedom, the style and the incredible talent that walks the runway in the ballroom scene,” explains Cherie Lily of “Body”. “An incredible amount of passion is put into each performance.”

The Ballroom scene is an underground gay subculture in which people “walk” and compete for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Those who walk often also dance and/or vogue while others compete in various genres of drag, often trying to pass as a specific gender and social class. Most people involved with ball culture belong to “houses” or “families”; groups composed primarily of gay and trans men, called “children”, who adopt a family name, usually from a fashion designer, and adhere to rules set up by a presiding “mother” and “father”.

The most recognized influence that ball culture has had on mainstream society is its creation of “voguing”, a dance style originating in Harlem ballrooms and popularized worldwide by the video for Madonna’s Vogue released in 1990, the same year as the popular documentary film on Ballroom culture, Paris Is Burning.

But what Cherie Lily loves most about Ballroom is the music. “It makes me feel like I’m flying,” she explains. It’s why she wanted to weave her own tune into its fabric, and hopes “Body”, created with ballroom master DJ Vjuan Allure, will provide a fresh new beat for the next generation of “children”.

Of Iranian descent, Cherie Lily was born and raised outside of Chicago. She launched her music career at seventeen, playing guitar for different punk and hardcore bands. At about the same time, she signed up for her first gym membership, sparking what would become a second love for her. “I am obsessed with fitness,” she says. “When I work my body, I feel strong, confident, sexy and alive. I’m a true fitness enthusiast.”

In 2002, she moved to NYC and began performing with the punk band, SPANK, playing rhythm guitar and singing lead vocals. She also wrote all the material for the band. Unfortunately, she was eventually kicked out of the group because she didn’t have tattoos. She started a more alternative punk band called FLüRT.

Shortly after, she met the man that would become her husband, rocker Andrew W.K. In 2005, she left FLüRT to join his band fulltime as his female vocalist. Meanwhile, on the side, she began producing dance music as a solo artist using her real first and middle name, Cherie Lily.

“I love nightlife and being a part of it, “ she continues. She says dance music allows her to combine her passions of music and fitness. Of her latest EP, “Dripping Wet”, she says, “I wanted to make an EP that was super driving to pump people up in the nightclub and in the gym. I want people to move.”

She wrote all of the tracks on the new EP herself, and produced many of them too. She also worked with some of New York’s most notable dance producers, including Richie Beretta, Vjuan Allure, and Mad Decent producer Derek “DJA” Allen.

“Body” releases commercially on all digital service providers this week. For more information on Cherie Lily, visit her official websitewww.CherieLily.com.